Darren Aronofsky is back off the ropes

‘It gets a lot, lot sicker than what you saw,’ warns Darren Aronofsky, recalling his time following the wrestling circuit. ‘And a lot bloodier. At Wrestlemania, all the stars are major millionaires and it’s really fake.

‘We shot at the live hardcore wrestling events you find two hours’ drive outside New York City. We used their ring, their crowd. It’s very disturbing when you see these guys coming backstage; they give themselves all these thin little cuts to get the crowd going and they’re covered in blood.’

No holds barred: a visit to see Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden when he was ten inspired Aronofsky to make a film about the world of wresting

In a neat blue, button-down shirt and nerdy glasses, this 39-year-old New Yorker looks more like he’s just popped in to file my tax returns than a chap who chose to spend a year watching big orange men in Borat-style Lycra try to staple barbed wire on to each other’s naked man boobs.

But that’s the murky world he delved into for The Wrestler, already dubbed the ‘Rocky of wrestling’, about a 1980s perma-tanned, steroid-addicted, WWE has-been, played by Mickey Rourke, now hawking his battered body round the fringe fight circuit.

‘It’s a film I’ve been passionate about, ever since I came up with the idea 15 years ago,’ Aronofsky explains in tones reminiscent of Bert from Sesame Street. ‘I can’t say I was ever a wrestling fan. Though when I was about ten, I went with a friend to see Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden. It was great – we screamed like crazy.

‘I guess it just kind of stuck with me and I always wondered why no one ever did an honest look at what a life was like that followed that route. The more research we did into that world, the more fascinating, the more unique and the more filled with strange characters it was.’

In true Rocky underdog fashion, The Wrestler has certainly been a storming comeback for former Hollywood has-been Rourke – and for Aronofsky himself. Once pencilled in to do the ‘origins’ blockbuster that became Batman Begins, he was at one time considered to be something of a financial liability for studios after box office flop The Fountain (2006). US website Ain’t It Cool News called it ‘a psychedelic fairytale'; everyone else called it a pile of pseudo-metaphysical, over- special-effected vanity guff – further compounded by the fact that it starred Aronofsky’s British wife, Rachel Weisz.

‘It was great,’ Aronofsky declares firmly. ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to be “coming back” from. I think we just made a $35million (£23million) art film and people basically just attacked it instead of being open to it.’

So, when it came to making The Wrestler: ‘Every financier in the world turned it down,’ he says. ‘And the couple that were into it offered money that was way, way, way too little to make it. We ended up making it for that little.’

He laughs. As well he might. Shot for a bare-knuckle $7million (£4.5million), The Wrestler and its star Rourke may have had sand kicked in their faces (‘no one wanted to make the film with Mickey’) but the film has now garnered three Golden Globe nominations, including Best Actor for Rourke.

And with a big-bucks remake of Robocop next on his horizon, it looks like Aronofsky’s back punching in the Hollywood heavyweight league.